[ZESTCaste] Dalit women find their voice through a newspaper
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-india-caste25-2009oct25,0,1539664.story Dalit women find their voice through a newspaper Indian tribal and so-called untouchable women, overcoming social hurdles, write and run their own weekly newspaper in northern India. Their own stories are as compelling as their reports. By Mark Magnier 9:52 PM PDT, October 24, 2009 Reporting from Banda, India The pen, it's sometimes said, is mightier than the sword. For these women, it's also a ticket to respect. Khabar Lahariya, or News Waves, is India's first newspaper written, read and run by tribal women and those from the Dalit, or so-called untouchable, caste. While most readers know only of the politics, crime or education news in the 8-page weekly, each of the writers has a story of her own about struggling against life's harsh challenges. Many of the dozen or so women on staff were beaten or sexually abused as children, married off young, endured abusive marriages and fought mightily for an education and a divorce. Often, the newspaper provides them with a voice on important issues for the first time in their lives along with a sense of confidence and purpose. The paper is also a labor of love. Not only do the women write the stories, which appear in a local minority language, Bundeli, they edit, handle layout, proofread and solicit ads for its two editions. And staff members, paid between $60 and $140 a month, spend several days each week lugging copies to distant villages, some accessible only by hiking trails, to flog what they've produced. We take buses, cars, motorcycles until the road stops, then we walk, said Meera, 23, who like many here uses only one name, while sitting beside a whiteboard with the week's stories mapped out. It's hard enough to reach many of these remote areas. Then you have to stay and sell the papers. In the remote communities, they pick up stories from readers or from residents petitioning for justice in courts and government offices. Thus armed, they return to their weekly editorial meeting with a minimum of five ideas and hash out among themselves what stories will make it into print. The paper's recent stories included alleged bribery at health clinics, a bureaucrat reported to be siphoning off money meant for widows and a piece on the brother of a powerful politician who built a house, blocking water that had gone to Dalit farmers nearby and destroying their livelihood. A few years ago, the paper did a story on a groom who had refused to marry his fiancee because her family wouldn't give him an appliance he wanted. Their story -- under the headline Do you want a wife or a TV? -- got huge attention. Today the couple are happily married and joke about the incident. The 4-cent cover price for Khabar Lahariya may seem like a pittance. But here in rural Uttar Pradesh state, where poverty is widespread and Internet use is not, this often represents a huge sum. Sometimes the staff members barter copies of the newspaper for food or firewood. They might even give away free copies if someone is impoverished but seems particularly interested. Staff members estimate that each of the 4,000 weekly copies is read by, or to, at least 10 other people, a function of the area's limited literacy and extreme poverty. The newsstand price covers less than 20% of the operation's $67,000 annual operating budget. The difference is covered by Nirantar, a New Delhi-based civic group specializing in gender, literacy and development issues. The group conceived of the project and believes it can serve as a model for other communities in India. A few weeks ago, the project won a UNESCO literacy prize. Khabar Lahariya focuses its articles on issues of importance to Dalit, tribal or other underprivileged communities not covered elsewhere. When Dalits are featured in the mainstream press, reporters said, the approach is often sensational and superficial. At the core, the women seek to help their mostly downtrodden readers know their rights, understand what government programs are available and teach them how to apply for assistance. Meera, 38, who has the same name as her fellow editor, said the staff faced huge resistance when the newspaper launched in 2002. Feudal kingpins long used to subjugating their workers; landlords who didn't want their exploitative practices revealed; corrupt officials; even journalists, who are often part of the old boys' club -- all resented their appearance on the scene. The younger Meera said she had argued extensively with her father and husband before they let her earn a master's degree in political science and take the newspaper job. The women say the newsroom structure remains loose and titles are often trumped by a system of respect among equals. A key point in many of the women's lives came when they realized, usually at some point in primary or middle school, that as Dalits they'd been born at the bottom of India's social pyramid. For the younger
[ZESTCaste] Delhi's Dalit Politics
http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_contenttask=viewid=2117Itemid=174 India Delhi's Dalit Politics Delhi's Dalit Politics Written by Neeta Lal Monday, 26 October 2009 Congress's politicians camp out with the poor – carefully India's Dalits, who occupy the bottom-most rung of the country's caste pyramid but constitute a vote-rich 65 million of its 1.1 billion population, are no longer untouchable for India's politicians – sort of. Congress members are sleeping in Dalit huts, (bringing their own bedding) and eating with them (bringing their own food) while the poor look on. They are also holding village meetings and announcing welfare schemes to this hitherto neglected constituency. The reasons aren't hard to find. State assembly elections are to be held in over half a dozen states over the next few months. Rahul Gandhi, 39, general secretary of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, is focusing on the Dalit heartland to project the Congress as a `party of the poor.' Gandhi's tactics include surprise visits to Dalit households in small villages where, unlike a lot of his party members, he shares frugal meals with them, bathes at hand pumps and sleeps on charpoys. The Dalit jamboree began in earnest around October 2, the 140th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, when, taking their cue from Gandhi, Congress members of parliament descended on 300 Dalit households in Uttar Pradesh to bond ostentatiously with their less privileged brethren. Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state at 190 million people, hosts 20 percent of the country's Dalits. Congress's added impetus to its Dalit agenda is a recent United Nations Human Rights Council's declaration which notes that discrimination based on the caste system is a human rights abuse that adversely impacts the world's estimated 200 million Dalits. The Council brushed aside Indian government opposition to inclusion of the word caste in the UN declaration. India felt the declaration's special emphasis on caste, highlighting the country's discriminatory ethos -- would bring it unsavory attention at a time when it is trying to raise its international profile. There is no denying that India's Dalit population, the largest of any single country, has been subjected to the worst form of discrimination for centuries. It is denied even the most basic human rights like access to clean drinking water and toilets. Tales of atrocities are legion despite the Indian Constitution providing for their welfare. And, despite India's growing economic and geopolitical heft, their lot remains largely unchanged. The benefits of national prosperity have hardly percolated down to a socioeconomic group who continue to be treated as social pariahs. Congress's revitalized Operation Dalit agenda has to be seen in this larger context. Its provenance goes back to January when Gandhi, undertook his ‘Discovery of India' trip accompanied by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. The duo spent time with India's poor in a village near Amethi, Gandhi's parliamentary constituency in UP. While an ebullient Miliband provided ample photo ops to the global media -- as he tiptoed around cow dung to visit a Dalit milk collection center, a school, a hospital and a women's self-help group -- it was panned by Congtress's critics as a blatant populist measure and little more. As Miliband himself wrote in his blog after the Amethi visit: 800 million Indians live on less than 2 dollars a day, 450 million on less than one dollar and I will get a chance to see some of the gap that exists between metropolitan middle class India and the rest. Brushing aside criticism that his visits are a political gimmick, Gandhi says he doesn't believe in the caste system and his purpose is to reach out to the poor. The frame of Dalit is your frame, not mine, he told journalists recently. I ask my office to arrange for my visit to a poor person's home in the poorest village. You see him as a Dalit, I see him as a poor person. Gandhi's party's actions have added to the mounting criticism. Earlier this month, Congress Ministers Sri Prakash Jaiswal, Pradip Aditya Jain, Mohammad Azharuddin and UPCC (Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee) chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi -- spent the night in Dalit homes. However, critics said the visits appeared designed more like outings than a genuine attempt to bond with the poor. The politicians traveled in luxury cars with their retinues and ate chicken while the poor looked on. A few brought pedestal fans, mattresses, bed sheets, mineral water, disposable cutlery and mosquito nets. Some even went to the extent of hiring their own cooks and feasted on delicacies with their supporters. Rather than encouraging bonding, charged a member of the right-wing opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress' Dalit outing has widened the schism between the party and the poor. It has made the latter conscious of a lifestyle they can ill-afford. Actually, according to
[ZESTCaste] Recently concluded assembly elections - any analysis please?
Dear friends Does anyone have any in-depth analysis on the recently concluded Assembly elections in India? I am very eager to know the how various parties (especially BSP) performed in the elections? I appreciate any help. Benjamin -- An educated man without character and humility was more dangerous than a beast. If his education was detrimental to the welfare of poor, he was a curse to society. -Babasaheb Dr B R Ambedkar Please visit www.friendsforeducation.org or www.ambedkarscholarship.org
[ZESTCaste] Nepal: Incentive plan for inter-caste, widow marriages in limbo
http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_detailsnews_id=11079 Incentive plan for inter-caste, widow marriages in limbo KOSH RAJ KOIRALA KATHMANDU, Oct 26: The much-hyped announcement of the government to provide cash grants for inter-caste and widow marriages has fallen in limbo as confusion continues which ministry is responsible for distributing the monetary incentives to encourage such practices. The plan announced during the budget unveiled in July has not come into implementation as the Home Ministry and the Ministry for Local Development pass the buck to each other. The confusion has made the government unable even to prepare guidelines for distributing the grants and send it to districts for executing the plan. With the delay in the implementation of the plan, the Ministry of Finance reeling with the cash-crunch too seems dilly-dallying to allocate the budget for the purpose. The government in this year´s budget had announced a grant of Rs 100,000 for each inter-caste couple to encourage marriage between Dalits and non-Dalits and Rs 50,000 grant to each couple when a widow remarries. The couples were to receive such grant within 30 days of marriage registration at concerned district administration office. The plan had also drawn protests from various quarters including from Single Women Group. Officials at Home Ministry said the ministry is not supposed to implement the plan as the events of marriages are registered under the Ministry of Local Development. We have come to learn that the Prime Minister´s Office is directly dealing with the implementation of the plan, said an official at the Home Ministry. The Prime Minister´s Office however said the Ministry of Local Development is dealing with the implementation. Local development ministry must have already sent distribution guidelines to districts by now as the ministry is responsible for the implementation of the plan, said PMO Spokesperson Sharada Prasad Trital. Officials at the Ministry for Local Development said the Home Ministry is responsible for the implementation of the plan. Though the responsibility of implementation was initially put on us later it was agreed that the Home Ministry will do the job, said Joint Secretary Dinesh Thapaliya, spokesperson at the Ministry of Local Development. Thapaliya said that no such guidelines have been prepared and sent to the districts yet. Published on 2009-10-26 05:31:26
[ZESTCaste] Tribunal shocked at ‘victimisation’ of Dalits
http://www.hindu.com/2009/10/26/stories/2009102654270900.htm Other States - Rajasthan Tribunal shocked at ‘victimisation’ of Dalits Special Correspondent Land grabbing case by Raje’s son gets special attention Recommends an honest and impartial investigation into all such cases Suggests a separate Commission for hearing the cases relating to Dalits’ lands JAIPUR: A six-year-old incident of BJP MP from Jhalawar and former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s son Dushyant Singh allegedly dispossessing Dalits of their agricultural land at Sundarpur village in Dholpur district and the continued denial of justice to the victims was the focus of attention at a public tribunal on land, housing and livelihood rights here on Sunday. A group of 13 Dalits had purchased 25 bighas of land from the former Dholpur ruler and Dushyant Singh’s father Hemant Kumar Singh in 1991. Though the revenue record was opened in the name of buyers, Dushyant Singh lodged a complaint with the police in 1996 accusing them of stealing the crops from his land. The case went up to the Rajasthan High Court, which gave the decision in 1997 in favour of buyers and asked Mr. Singh to return the crops to them. However, Mr. Singh allegedly forcibly grabbed the land in 2003 when Ms. Raje took over as the Chief Minister and started growing crops on it. Mr. Singh filed a case in the revenue court with the claim that his father did not have the authority to sell the land as its original owner had cancelled the power of attorney issued in his name. The Sub-Divisional Officer issued a decree in his favour, which was challenged by Dalits through an appeal filed in the court of the district-level Revenue Appellate Authority. Viri Singh Koli, one of the buyers of the land, said at the tribunal that the Dalit families – deprived of the land purchased with a great difficulty – were living in a state of penury and facing starvation with no source of livelihood for six years. The case is still pending with the Revenue Appellate Authority. Mr. Koli alleged that Mr. Singh, accompanied by Ms. Raje’s personal staff and policemen from Mania, Diholi and Rajakheda police stations, destroyed the crop at Dalits’ land and forcibly occupied it in 2003. When they protested and squatted before Mr. Singh’s tractors, policemen allegedly abused them and hounded them out of the land. Since then, the 13 Dalit families are being alternately threatened and allured to reach a compromise. “This is a clear instance of an elected representative misusing his powers and the police colluding with the erstwhile ruling family to subvert the rule of law,” said Mr. Koli. The jury at the public tribunal, headed by the former Supreme Court judge, Justice K. Ramaswami, was left astounded by the alleged land grabbing incident as well as 19 similar other cases of Dalits in the State being deprived of their rights and subjected to humiliation, untouchability, assault and discrimination. Other members of the jury included former Rajasthan High Court judge I.S. Israni, former civil servant K.B. Saxena, rights activist Annie Raja and Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan activist Nikhil Dey. Centre for Dalit Rights patron and Supreme Court lawyer P.L. Mimroth said the Dalits in Rajasthan were the victims of the feudal mindset of the middle class which was not willing to give them an equal status and identical rights: “The civil society in the State is not strong enough to exert pressure on political parties, administration and police to protect Dalits.” The jury recommended an honest and impartial investigation into all cases of Dalits being driven out of their land and deprived of their livelihood and said the public servants siding with the offenders and forcing the victims to reach a compromise should be sternly dealt with. A separate Commission for hearing the cases relating to Dalits’ lands in a limited time-frame should be appointed and Dalits should be allotted residential plots free of cost on the Andhra Pradesh pattern, said the jury. It also called for regular public hearing of Dalits by the Government officers at the district level to settle their grievances and take prompt action against those harassing Dalits. INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to zestmedia-dig...@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ PARTICIPATE:- On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:- If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to zestcaste-subscr...@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/ Also
[ZESTCaste] A monumental folly (Opinion)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/A-monumental-folly/H1-Article1-468900.aspx# Khushwant Singh October 24, 2009 First Published: 22:40 IST(24/10/2009) Last Updated: 02:11 IST(25/10/2009) A monumental folly How many times does the Supreme Court have to rap Mayawati’s knuckles before it enters her head that erecting statues of herself and her mentor-companion Kanshi Ram is not acceptable use of public money? Her first response to the strictures passed by the country’s highest judicial body was to take front page advertisements in all national newspapers with her own pictures advertising the wonderful things she has done for the state. So another few lakhs of public money went down the drain in her seemingly endless pursuit of self-glorification. With the same money she could have built a few hospitals, colleges and schools and named them after Kanshi Ram or herself. They would have served the people of her state and no one would have raised the slightest objection. We had welcomed her emergence as a Dalit leader with great hopes that she would better their lot and help wipe out the curse of caste distinctions from our society. These hopes lie shattered. Her first priority was to load herself with expensive jewellery and acquire vast properties in Delhi and elsewhere. She claimed that all this came from her innumerable admirers. I don’t believe it. She is a headstrong woman who does not listen to any advice unless it is in accordance with her wishes. She suffers from the illusion that she is the sole spokeswoman of the Dalits and resents young men like Rahul Gandhi fraternising with them and taking up their cause. She should know this is a matter which concerns all of us and everyone has the right and the duty to involve ourselves in the Dalits’ fight for equal treatment in all spheres of life. What bothers me most is that the matter had to be taken to the Supreme Court to curb Mayawati's megalomania. Surely there must be other means of curbing chief ministers’ whims and fancies! What powers do the Governors of states have to veto their idiosyncrasies? Can’t the Central Government step in to prevent scandalous waste of public money by state Governments? I don’t know. Perhaps some legal luminary will enlighten us on the subject. What a diarist needs About this time of the year diaries for the year to come are got ready for printing so that people can get them well ahead of New Year’s Day. I have never had to buy one as I get over half-a-dozen from business houses and publishers. I keep one for myself and give away all the others. As a regular diary-keeper I have strong views on what information is a must for every diary and what is unnecessary. I don’t think diary producers give much thought to the subject and go on printing the same year after year. Pocket diaries with pencils attached which were once in vogue and most people carried them in the inner pockets of the coats to put in engagements of the day are now passe, hardly anyone uses them today. Table diaries should not be too large. They should carry only necessary information like national holidays, pin codes, a page on one’s own health with details like weight, blood group, blood pressure etc for ready reference when needed. Most of other stuff in diaries is superfluous. For many years I have used one diary published by a little-known firm of Punjabi publishers called Chattar Singh Jiwan Singh of Amritsar. Jiwan diary has all I need to know in English, Hindi, Urdu and Gurmukhi. It carries the Roman, Vikrami and Hijri calendars; times of sun rises and sun sets, phases of the moon, and every religious festival of every community, birth and death dates of netas in different regions. There is also plenty of space to note down engagements and activities of the day. Only I have to remind them much before to let me have it before the New Year begins. Advani and Sanyas For salvation in this life, an essential condition Sanyas is the noblest thing in Indian tradition Accordingly Advaniji sincerely plans renunciation And shares with his mentor Swami Vishweshwara Teerath His noble inclination But the seer is mortally scared That if he allowed that Advani, having failed in his prime- ministerial plan Would dethrone him and become the head of his clan. (Courtesy: Kuldip Salil, Delhi) Gaining Experience A bank put an advertisement in the papers inviting applications for branch managers. It mentioned that experience was a necessary qualification. Santa applied for the job. A few days before he was called for an interview, his friend Banta came to wish him good luck. He found Santa perched up on a mango tree in the garden. Somewhat bewildered, he asked, “Santa what on earth are you doing on the tree?” Santa replied, “I’m gaining experience as a branch manager. It is a necessary requirement.” (Contributed by Harjeet Kaur, Delhi) The views expressed by the author are personal INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all
[ZESTCaste] Nepal: Dalit community faces threat to life for inter-caste marriage
http://www.groundreport.com/World/Dalit-community-faces-threat-to-life-for-inter-cas/2909897 Dalit community faces threat to life for inter-caste marriage by Mohan Nepali for Public JournalismOctober 25, 2009 Nepal government has remained a mere spectator though a Kathmandu-based daily Sunday made public a news report about a serious human rights violation in Dailekh district. According to the Nayapatrika daily, locals of Jaganath village ward#6 have made Amit B.K. pay a fine of Rs. 60,000 for marrying a Sabita Shahi belonging to so-called high caste community. He was not only forced to pay the fine but was also deprived of his bride. The neighbors and relatives of Sabita Shahi, the bride, were the ones who beat and tortured Amit BK, the bridegroom. They forcefully snatched Sabita away from Amit and tried to murder the boy, who is now reported missing following his attempt to escape the murder by running down a cliff. There is no report of any police rescue team reaching the village. However, Prem Bhurtel, a local human rights activist, is trying to afford help for the victims from different mechanisms he is accessible to. Many similar incidents of human rights violations arising from caste-apartheid deep-rooted in Nepal are reported every year; however, the state of Nepal has done nothing to prevent them. Nepal is a party to most of the international human rights treaties and instruments. Although the Nepali laws clearly say that caste discrimination and racist behavior are punishable, the state has rarely proved its worth in implementation form. The reported case of Amit BK and Sabita Shahi indicates the violation of their right to marriage and self-decision about their personal life. Similarly, the attempt to murder Amit for marrying a girl of so-called high-caste background shows the threat to his life. Although Amit and Sabita were married on 01 September and their parents took them home on 12 September when Sabita’s family members, relatives and their supporting neighbors attacked Amit, the information of the incident came quite late because the victims were too terrified to inform the media. Some social workers like Bhurtel took the initiative to disclose it to the media. In Nepal, so-called high-caste people, also belonging to the ruling class, treat Dalits (‘untouchables’ according to ritual belief of Hindu Pundits) like animals. Because of this long-practiced caste discrimination, the Dalits are the most marginalized and excluded community in Nepal. The Dalits are still treated as ‘ritually contaminated community’ and are generally boycotted in villages in the form of discriminated speech and behavior. Article 1 in the Universal Declaration of human rights states that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that they are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. This has been directly violated in the case of Amit and Sabita. The declaration in Article 2 that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set f in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status has also been violated openly. Similarly, the right to life, liberty and security stated in Article 3 has also been trodden upon. Article 5 set against torture and inhuman and cruel treatment has also faced a violation. Thus the incident can be linked to the violation of most of the Article in the declaration. Now the victims’ family members are reported to have taken shelter away from their permanent settlement. INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to zestmedia-dig...@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ PARTICIPATE:- On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:- If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to zestcaste-subscr...@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/ Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:zestcaste-dig...@yahoogroups.com mailto:zestcaste-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an
[ZESTCaste] BSP fails to open account this time too
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/BSP-fails-to-open-account-this-time-too/articleshow/5158020.cms BSP fails to open account this time too TNN 25 October 2009, 05:42am IST NAGPUR: The Bahujan Samaj Party led by Mayawati failed to click once again in Maharashtra. Though it contested from 281 constituencies in the state, it could not open its account. But this was more on an expected lines because of the cobbling of a unity among 14 factions of the Republican Party of India under leadership of Ramdas Athavale which split the Dalit votes. It was a well-orchestrated move of the Congress-NCP. They created a hype about the Third Front and the so-called RPI (United) just days before the state elections. Similarly the ruling parties in the state promoted Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to split the Shiv Sena-BJP vote. The twin moves were enough for the Congress-NCP to ensure that all media attention was focussed on the MNS and the Third Front, so that votes of the opposition parties were split. Thus without doing much, the Congress-NCP retained power despite all negatives factors like increasing poverty, price rise, farmers' suicides and poor law and order, BSP general secretary Veer Singh summed up. Speaking to TOI about his party's poor performance, Singh said, The BSP had in last two years worked very hard in the state especially in Dalit dominated region of Vidarbha. But then we were done in by the bogus claims of the RPI United. Now it is for everyone to see how the Congress-NCP once again used the situation to its own benefit. The money-bag politics of the Congress was also something we could not counter as voters were influenced by that party on the election eve in a big way, alleged Singh. But we have not given up hope. Our leader Kanshi Ram built up the Ambedkar movement by patiently fighting for Dalit empowerment for decades. We will emulate him, said Singh. What has come as a shock for the BSP is that its vote share in the state which had gone up to as high as 4.8% in 2009 Lok Sabha elections has not dipped to around 2.5% in the recent assembly elections. Earlier the party had become notorious as spoiler for major parties like the Congress and NCP and even the BJP after it started giving tickets to non-Dalits. But, now that nuisance value has also receded. While it could not win a single seat, the only consolation it has is that the Athavale-led RPI(U) also drew a blank. This could help the BSP retain its cadre base painstakingly from those disillusioned by the RPI's splintered leadership.
[ZESTCaste] Fanatic Dalits, Empowered Dalits?
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article1716.html Mainstream, Vol. XLVII, No 45, October 24, 2009 Fanatic Dalits, Empowered Dalits? Not So Fascinating World Of Dalit-Hindutva Engagement Sunday 25 October 2009, by Subhash Gatade BOOK REVIEW Fascinating Hindutva: Saffron Politics and Dalit Mobilisation by Badri Narayan; 2009; Sage; pages 195. The Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world, —a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife,—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanise America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face. —Du Bois (The Soul of Black Folks) I The question of mapping ‘agency’ as it unfolds itself in the trajectory of the oppressed has been a recurring theme in the social sciences of the 20th century. In his historic treatise Soul of the Black Folks, the legendary African-American social scientist and activist, Du Bois, had discussed the ‘double consciousness’ which inhabits the Negro (this was the term which was used then for the African-Americans) and tried to delineate the dilemma through which every oppressed individual /formation is condemned to pass. According to Du Bois, a Black individual lives with a feeling of ’twoness’ in a dominant White society. On the one hand s/he is engaged in confrontation with the dominant White world to oppose racial discrimination and on the other hand s/he also yearns to become an American ‘without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows’. If the feeling of ‘twoness’ inhabited the Blacks, is it possible to think about the Dalits in a Varna society on similar lines? The contradictoriness of the consciousness is very much visible in this case as well. On the one hand s/he is engaged in imitating/following the Varna hierarchy (this process of upward mobility is variously described as Brahminisation/Sanskritisation by scholars a la M.N. Srinivas) and on the other hand one encounters a strong current of resistance to this cooption. Interestingly, as we approach the sixtieth year of India’s becoming a republic when (to quote Dr Ambedkar) we embarked on the journey of becoming a political democracy where one wo/man had one vote and the challenge of its becoming a ‘social democracy’ with one wo/man one value still beckoned us, an altogether different situation awaits us. We have before us Dalit assertion reaching its zenith signified by a ‘Dalit ki beti’ becoming the Chief Minister of the largest State in the Indian Union and the ‘guest actor role of the Dalits’ in the Indian polity becoming a thing of the past. And simultaneously one encounters the ideological and institutional incorporation of a section of the subalterns—namely Dalits, tribals, backwards—in the unfolding Hindutva agenda also coming to its fruition. As is widely known, if the 1992-93 riots in Bombay made us aware of the communalisation of a section of the women and their turning stormtroopers for the Hindutva brigade (discussed and debated in detail in the volume Womena and the Hindu Right—ed.) throwing many of our earlier assumptions about women’s empowerment to the winds, the Gujarat genocide in the year 2002 made us aware of this dangerous and anti-human detour of the Dalit consciousness. Interestingly, while it is easy to comprehend Dalit assertion on autonomous lines, connecting it to the glorious tradition of cultural revolts led by the likes of Phule, Jyothee Thass, Periyar, Ambedkar and others, one is normally baffled by a section of the Dalits’ cooption by the Hindutva forces and their becoming stormtroopers for its hate-agenda. The book under discussion by Badri Narayan titled Fascinating Hindutva: Saffron Politics and Dalit Mobilisation (Sage, 2009) in fact tries to unravel this dynamics of Dalit identity to ‘deconstruct the tactics used by the Hindutva forces to politically mobilise Dalits’ to its side. The articles collated in this volume—a few of which have appeared in
[ZESTCaste] Action sought against SC/ST panel chairman
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=%E2%80%98No%E2%80%99+to+caste+enumerationartid=X26Lq38zvmQ=SectionID=XVSZ2Fy6Gzo=MainSectionID=XVSZ2Fy6Gzo=SEO=J+K+Bantia,+C+Chandramouli,+M+S+Janardhanam,+M+KarSectionName=m3GntEw72ik= Action sought against SC/ST panel chairman Express News ServiceFirst Published : 26 Oct 2009 01:09:00 AM ISTLast Updated : THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Pattika Jathi/Varga Aikyavedi has urged the Government to initiate action against SC/ST Commission chairman P K Sivanandan who had allegedly made derogatory remarks against Mahatma Gandhi and Sree Narayana Guru. Aikyavedi state chairman Aithiyur Surendran and general secretary D S Raj told a news conference here on Saturday that Sivanandan made the objectionable remarks during the Commission’s sitting held at the dalit colonies in Varkala the other day. They said that Sivanandan had justified the DHRM leaders’ propaganda against Mahatma Gandhi and Sree Narayana Guru during the sitting. He told the dalits that Mahatma Gandhi’s acts against the interest of dalits had forced Ambedkar to fight against Gandhiji. They also said that Sivanandan had justified the DHRM activists’ propaganda against Sree Narayana Guru. The Aikyavedi leaders and the Rural SP had accompanied the SC/ST Commission on its visit to the colonies. They said that the Commission had openly criticised the police for harassing the DHRM activists. They said that the DHRM activists were tools in the hands of certain fundamentalist forces. Dalit organisations like the DHRM are not the real culprits, they said. They (DHRM activists) cannot kill innocent people and unleash terror. Setting ablaze the court room in Kollam and an offset press at Manvila require more skill and guidance from fundamentalist outfits. INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to zestmedia-dig...@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ PARTICIPATE:- On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:- If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to zestcaste-subscr...@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/ Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:zestcaste-dig...@yahoogroups.com mailto:zestcaste-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: zestcaste-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
